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         This trial came on at the October term (1841) of the Cedar County District Court--to which it was brought, by change of venue, from Linn County, where he had been indicted for burglary, in May, 1840—Judge Joseph Williams presiding. George McCoy was Sheriff, and William M. Knott was Deputy Sheriff. The following named citizens composed the jury:

         Christopher Cline, William Morgan, Abraham Kiser, Elias Epperson, Porter McKinstry, Philip Wilkinson, James S. Lewis, John Lewis, William H. Bolton, William Denny, Samuel Gilliland and Peter Diltz.

         The trial was an exciting one. The feeling against Switzer and his associates in crime and villainy was intense, and it is a subject of surprise that he was not taken from the custody of the law officers and hanged to a limb of the first convenient tree. Besides the employment of as able counsel as could be secured in the country, Switzer and his friends imported from Illinois a bully known by the name of Christ. Burns*--a man of 240 pounds, very muscular and without a pound of surplus flesh. He was all sinew and strength, and as active as a cat. Of this character, more anon.

         When the trial commenced, Switzer showed an uneasy, restless disposition entirely foreign to a man who knew he was innocent, and gave unmistakable signs of fearing the verdict. As the trial of the case progressed, Switzer was …

         *Burns was killed at a shooting match in Upper Missouri, about 1845, by being shot be a neighbor with whom he had a quarrel.

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. . . clearly and unmistakably identified as one of the Goudy robbers by Mrs. McElheny and other members of the family, who were in the house the night the robbery was committed. Switzer tried to prove an alibi, but the evidence of identification was such that the efforts of himself and counsel in that direction signally failed. When the trial was concluded and the case given to the jury and the jury had retired, Switzer tired a new agreement—one that his counsel had not introduced. He approached Deputy Sheriff Knott, and said, “Knott, you and I have always been on friendly terms. If the jury find me guilty, when you are returning with them to the court room, let the end of your handkerchief hang out of the side pocket of your coat.” Knott replied, “Switzer, you got into this scrape without my help, and you must get out if it the same way.” The jury was out two days and two nights, but failed to agree, there being eleven for conviction and one for acquittal. During the trial, one of the jurymen went out home and stayed over night with one of Switzer’s most intimate friends. Burns and several others, known friends of Switzer, stayed at the same place, and it would not be strange if the trial was talked about by them and the verdict predicted.

         Each day, during the trial, a large gray horse was brought and hitched immediately in front of the building used as a court house for that term of court. About three o’clock in the afternoon of the second day they were out, the jury were returned to the court house to report their inability to agree upon a verdict. Switzer and his friends were on the watch. When the jury were leaving the room in which they had deliberated, one of them, either by accident or agreement, left the end of his handkerchief protruding from the side pocket of his coat. Switzer saw and recognized the signal. He was standing close to the gray horse, and as soon as he saw the signal, he unhitched the animal, mounted his back with the nimbleness of a squirrel and darted away like the wind. Knowing the proposition Switzer had made to Knott, there was reason to think that either Switzer or some of his friends had corrupted one of the jurymen, and that the handkerchief signal had been agreed upon in case of the finding of a verdict of “guilty,” and that, in the excitement of the hour, the juryman had, in mistake, given the signal. After the jury reported to the court their inability to agree, and were discharged, Switzer’s friends started out to find and convey to him the result, but did not succeed in their mission until the next day, when they found him concealed in the woods along Sugar Creek.

         A warrant was issued for Switzer’s re-arrest and placed in the hands of Sheriff McCoy, but from some cause that officer did not undertake to serve it, and Switzer, taking advantage of the delay, made arrangements to leave the country, and soon afterward emigrated to the West. In 1852, when William Knott went to California, he met Switzer at Carson River, in Nevada Territory, and had a long talk with him. Among others, Switzer spoke of one of the jurymen, and requested Knott to convey to him his kindest regards and remembrances. “Tell him,” said Switzer “that, as he stuck to me when I was in a d___d tight place, I’ll stick to him and remember him as my best friend as long as I live.” Mr. Knott says his morals had not improved any, whatever his practices may have been.

         In 1874, Judge Shane and his wife visited California, and, upon inquiring at Vallejo, learned of Switzer’s whereabouts, and that he had accumulated a fortune estimated at $40,000; also, that he was accounted a very dissolute reckless and dishonest man, and that he was almost universally feared and despised. His children were “chips of the old block,” and were following in the footsteps of their father. One of the sons had but recently killed a man at . . .

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. . . an agricultural fair at Vallejo, Sonora County, for which offense he was under arrest and awaiting trial.

         Soon after Switzer was arrested for the Goudy robbery, a civil suit was also commenced against him for the recovery of the money, and a judgment obtained against him. Judge Shane consulted an attorney there in regard to Switzer’s career here and the indictment and judgment that were unsatisfied. Arrangements were made to send a transcript of the proceedings to California with a view to recovering the judgment (then amounting to $3,000 at least). When Judge Shane returned here and came to examine the records, he found them non est, and no further action was taken. Switzer died at his home near Vallejo some time during the year 1877.